Government wants VA lawsuit tossed

EAST ST. LOUIS -- The U.S. government says a lawsuit over a Kentucky man's death at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Marion should be thrown out because it was filed too soon.

And the plaintiff's attorney says the government is right.

Federal rules require that any lawsuit against the U.S. be preceded by an administrative claim, giving the government six months to consider the matter. The government says Darla Marshall filed her claim last October and amended it the next month, making her April 29th lawsuit premature.

Attorney Stan Heller says he expects to work out that problem with the government, likely by refiling her lawsuit now that six months have passed.

Darla Marshall and another Kentucky widow say poor surgical care killed their husbands last year at the VA hospital in Marion, before surgeries were halted there after a spike in patient deaths.